Hand Number 1.

Villian is 22/14 over 268 (19/17 from EP)
Fold to 3bet 67% - (8/12)
Flop cont bet 50% (6/12)

So I know the villian can play from stats. My main question is how to play the flop? What would you do, call the c-bet, raise or perhaps shove and why?

The range I have assigned opponent is AJs+ AQo+ and 77+ I feel I cant shove as I only get called by better and my draw may be dead if opponent has AsKh for example.

I feel that I should be able to use my positional advantage in the hand to my benefit here but Im not sure how. Any ideas?

Lastly if nobody could ever speak about the river that would be great. Never ever ever.

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

UTG+1: $25.00
UTG+2: $32.35
MP1: $28.25
MP2: $25.00
CO: $24.85
Hero (BTN): $33.80
SB: $24.45
BB: $17.40
UTG: $17.05

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with K A
UTG raises to $1, 5 folds, Hero raises to $3, 2 folds, UTG calls $2

Flop: ($6.35) 7 T 3 (2 players)
UTG bets $3, Hero calls $3

Turn: ($12.35) 3 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

River: ($12.35) 3 (2 players)
UTG bets $5, Hero calls $5


Hand Number 2


In this hand villian is 60/20 over 10 hands.

I am just very confused over the whole hand from the flop onwards.

1. On the flop I am not ready to fold to his donk bet which is less than half the pot so I call. I do not necessarily believe he has anything.

2. Turn - When he checks to me what would you do? I bet and then felt annoyed when I got raised but I bet the turn to get value out of any possible straight/flush draws and to take the hand down now with nothing as he has c-bet flop and checked turn which looks weak. Thoughts here especially appreciated.


Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

UTG: $24.55
UTG+1: $28.15
MP1: $9.30
MP2: $11.60
CO: $13.90
Hero (BTN): $26.05
SB: $5.50
BB: $29.50

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with K A
UTG calls $0.25, 3 folds, CO calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1.50, 3 folds, CO calls $1.25

Flop: ($3.60) 8 3 9 (2 players)
CO bets $1.75, Hero calls $1.75

Turn: ($7.10) 9 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $3.50, CO raises to $10.65 all in, Hero folds

Anyone? Who's with me?

1 hand per post plz.

hand 1 - 3bet slightly more - $3.25 is my default. the rest of the hand is actually OK except for the river call - we don't exactly have much of a bluff-catcher on this board.

hand 2 - i probably meh-fold to the donk. if villain is donking with air here we pretty much have to put him AI to find out given effective stacks. if we raise villain is continuing with close to 100% of his donking range on this board. as played OTF i check back turn all day and hope to spike

hand 1:

first of all, i don't think this guy can play. (as indicated by this hand) and this is not a cbet, its a donkbet, call he just called your 3b pf.

if your assumptions are correct, just get it in on the flop. against the range you assigned him, you're flipping: (or did you mean that this is is pf-range and his flop-donking-range is completely different?)

59,400 games 0.005 secs 11,880,000 games/sec

Board: 7s Ts 3s
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 52.659% 47.50% 05.16% 28215 3064.50 { AcKs }
Hand 1: 47.341% 42.18% 05.16% 25056 3064.50 { 77+, AJs+, AQo+ }


plus if you think you're only getting called by worse, that means he's gonna have to fold a lot, which is great because he's only got one psb left.
and you're still gonna be flipping against most his 'better' hands:
990 games 0.005 secs 198,000 games/sec

Board: 7s Ts 3s
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 49.394% 49.39% 00.00% 489 0.00 { AcKs }
Hand 1: 50.606% 50.61% 00.00% 501 0.00 { JhJs }

as played: on the river... well, nevermind

***GRUNCH***

I seem to get in crappy spots w/AK often enough too - IP and OOP. And it seems that others play it aggressively and always hit or stack off PF and it holds vs. AQ or something.

However, Hand 1 is OK - I prefer a fold on the river.

Hand 2 vs SS we can play this 2 ways AIPF (3bet to an amount that you can't possibly fold if he shoves) or call behind and fold if we miss. I don't mind your call PF (absent reads) but we have to let it go on the flop IMO.

Not THE Crafty Cockney are you??? Now that would be something!!!!!! Hand 1, fine except being a station on the river. Hand 2, fold to the donk until you get a handle on this villain - lots of villains like to lead a made hand into the pfr, others donk their whiffs because they hate to c/call, you can float these to good effect as they usually give up on the turn - keep an eye on this 1 & figure out which he is. But remember AK is a drawing hand [albeit a very good 1], don't lose too many big pots chasing.

Hand 1:

3bet is fine, he's fairly loose and you've got position. That half-pot donk-bet from him on the flop is weird and suggests to me that it's a blocking bet because he's got a weakish hand and wants to set his own price to get to showdown, or he's just trying to steal the pot. I'm not too keen on calling him down though because we're still actually behind a lot of hands he might be bluffing with (low pps, 9T, 78 etc...). However, whatever he has got, we've still got ok equity against everything except for A high flushes, or Ax that's paired the kicker, so I think for this reason I like a shove here. He's going to fold a ton (including hands that are currently beating you) and I would imagine we've got at least 30% against a calling range. Remember if you're working out ranges, you need to make a range for him that he will actually call with. The range that Saeco has provided above is unrealistic because he will be folding stuff like AQ (no spade) and 88. If I have time I'll try to work out a realistic calling range later and work out the fold equity calculations just to see how accurately we can get an EV value for a shove.

Hand 2:

A similar problem here in that a lot of the hands he may be bluffing (or "seeing where he's at") still actually beat you, so although you're playing bluff-catcher, I'd rather do it with a hand like 8x/9x. Stack size here is a problem because if you raise him and he shoves, you're pretty much committed to call, so I either make a big raise (to maximise fold equity) and call a shove, or just give it up and fold. You will make worse mistakes than folding AK unimproved to a donkbet from a mid-stacker.

You'll be disappointed to learn that he's not even a cockney... and to be honest, I've not seen much evidence of craftiness. It's a sham!

You didn't even allow the thought to linger!

On a related note, I once had a pee while standing next to the actual Crafty Cockney.

I see your Crafty Cockney, & I raise you Sam Torrrance [whilst Ryder Cup captain!]- the lives we lead!!!!!!

Hand 1:

Ya know, the more I look at it the more I am convinced you need to make a overlarge raise on the flop, possibly even going all in. I'm not totally sure why as the math doesn't really add up once I've seen all the cards in play, but looking at the action before and on the flop I'm guessing the villain has zero. His raise on the flop is extremely weak, possibly indicating he has 2nd pair or perhaps TPBK. A over the top raise/shove here will probably win you the pot and if not you still have about 45% to win against most draws.

Again I'm not totally sure why, but I get this odd feeling in the back of my chest that says that the situation adds up to a perfect semi-bluff on the flop and the aggressive side of me says "PUSH DAMN YOU PUSH!!"

Turn and river are just....eugh.

Hand 1: Preflop this is a tricky topic i think needs more discussion (villans annoying middle stack size) because of situations on the flop like these where you flop outs galore but no hand... PERSONALY ive found the best play vs these stacks IP is to make it 3.50 pre or flat... Reason being I want my 3bet to rep strength so when a flop like this comes i can shove over the donk bet when the pots 7$ without a 2nd thought (thats if villan even calls) OR i dont hate peeling one street when donked into like what happened but river call is massive leak i used to have too, just let it go and get into the habit on the preflop/on the flop of anticipating what you will do when the future situation arises in the next rounds of betting... eg: as played when donked into on the flop i now see 2 options, raise or call, folding is the worst option...so either shove over OR peel one street and fold to any bet if i dont improve...

Hand 2: The COTW on isolating limpers is very good is you havent read it, if i got anything out of it it would be to isolate LARGE and this is what ive found to be extremely profitably: 1 limper= 4x+1for every limper ISO... 2+limpers= 5x+1x for every limper... so in this hand make it 1.75 to go. This hand is a bit like the 1st where you kind of love AK so much and hate to fold it, on the flop when donked into just peel one street and if no A or K comes c/f... even folding to flop donk wouldnt be terrible, raising would be terrible (glad you didnt do it!).

From what ive seen at 25NL these akward stack sizes (10-20$) dont last very long and you really are at the mercy of the cards to stack them, so dont get attetched to AK when it doesnt hit and just play a small pot, cbet flop fold if called etc etc... But yea they are going to lose their money so just be patient and the spot will come soon enough!

Sadly this is true, my right arm is good only for clicking a mouse and not throwing a dart. However I feel my craftyness will be demonstrated at the next Poker Weekend!

This next one is mine!